


Christmas Rush

by Bates



Category: Carol (2015)
Genre: Bookstores, Christmas fic, Cute, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 18:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12238419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bates/pseuds/Bates
Summary: ‘Maybe she could call Carol once she left. See if she wanted to come 'round.In which Therese closes up the shop after a long day and her nights ends up brighter than she thought it'd be





	Christmas Rush

It feels like the first time Therese has been able to sit down in twelve hours. Who knows, maybe it was the truth. With miss Robichek home sick, she’d manned the shop mostly on her own. It’s been challenging, sure. People still think of books when they don’t know what to get someone, even if it’s just a gift shop.

                Not being part of a big corporation, she hadn’t expected the rush. Most people would be happier with a card from a fancier place, bigger place, but people still put the books on the till and they sold more books than they’d had over the past week.

                Secretly she hoped it could get her a bit of a raise, so she could put some money to the side and maybe upgrade some bits in her apartment, so she wouldn’t be afraid of turning on the heat too much during these months. It was a feeble hope, she knew. Miss Robichek was fair, but she was already paying her all the overtime she’d worked in the past weeks.

 

Therese couldn’t say she minded it. The store was empty now, the door locked and the light in front dimmed. All that was left for her was to ring up the till, fill in some of the gaps made my busy shoppers and tidy up. Then, she could go home and put on some hot chocolate, watch a movie while snuggled under a blanket.

                ‘Maybe she could call Carol once she left. See if she wanted to come ‘round.’ She thought absent mindedly as she quickly sweeped the floors. What she and Carol had was…tricky. Therese never knew where they stood. Sometimes, she thought they were in love and other days, she doubted herself. Doubted if what she felt was love. It wasn’t what she’d felt with Richard, what she’d felt with other women she’d crushed on.

                If anything, it scared her a bit. The doubt wasn’t strong enough for her to not get a Christmas present for her – no, she’d gotten her a book from the store she’d seen her look at over and over again and she’d even gotten her daughter a little something too. It had to mean she really wanted it.

                (07:12 pm) CAROL: _Should I pick you up at the store?_

(07:14) THERESE: _I’d love that_

It was fifteen minutes later that she heard the soft knocks at the door. Therese had tried to hide Carol’s present as neatly as she could. If she asked, she could always say it was for a friend, but she was a terrible liar. Carol would know and know which book it was and then she’d be back to square one for the Christmas shopping.

                “Hi auntie Terry!’

                “Hey there, what are you still doing here?”

                “We went to a movie,” Carol said, smiling, and for a minute Therese couldn’t help but look at her and take her in. She did look beautiful. Even after sitting through a kids movie in a theatre with rowdy kids. “A little treat because she got a good report card.”

                “All A’s,” Rhindy whispered in her ear when she knelt to hug the little girl.

                “Are you all done here?” She just nodded, before turning off the last of the lights and locking up behind her. “Care to join us for dinner?”

                “Please?” She took Therese’s hand in hers before her mom could remind her to stay with them. “Mommy didn’t cook tonight.”

                “In that case, I think that sounds great.” The warm smiles on both Rhindy and Carol’s faces told her that maybe her fear was silly. Maybe she was just making things up. What she did know however, was that she liked them, liked hanging out with them. Regardless of what was going on. “Let’s go.”

               


End file.
